Graham Fahy' s stories

UniCredit is courting new investors to support its €13bn rights issue amid concerns that not all of its current shareholders will be willing – or able – to take up their rights in a transaction that is vital to turning around Italy’s biggest bank.

The 19 underwriters of UniCredit’s €13bn rights issue should make the most of their fat fees as there will be few other pay days in Italy in the coming months, with a series of Italian banking recapitalisations likely to be orchestrated by the state behind closed doors – as in the case of Banca M

Transformation stories are a tough sell in ECM, with outcomes hinging on the ability of the issuer to convince and inspire. But Dong Energy, together with its banks, adeptly navigated a minefield of investor anxieties that ranged from the future of green subsidies to concerns about a massive expansion plan ahead to ensure a successful Copenhagen listing.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena may have little option but to ask for a government bailout after the European Central Bank rejected a plea to extend the deadline on its €5bn recapitalisation efforts by three weeks.

The owner of battery producer Varta Microbattery is pushing ahead with a plan to raise cash and chase the next big thing in energy storage, even if it means negotiating a difficult IPO market and the volatility that comes with an unpredictable US presidential election.

The UK chancellor has abandoned a plan to sell shares in Lloyds Bank to retail investors as it would not recoup cash that taxpayers invested in the bank because of the promise of a 5% discount combined with a depressed share price. The move was expected with the change of leadership in the UK (see “B